


On the Path of Fellowship

by Quente



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-01-25
Packaged: 2017-11-26 19:40:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/653733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quente/pseuds/Quente
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Holy all that's holy, I wrote this in the EARLY 2000s!  Here is my original summary:</p>
<p>Written for the Contrelamontre Flash-forward challenge.</p>
<p>Karl is in Edoras / Karl is in Japan.<br/>Viggo is in Edoras / Viggo is in Japan.<br/>They don't connect / But then they do.</p>
<p>It's all about friendship and belonging. Oh, and sex.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Path of Fellowship

*

_They were on the Two Towers premiere trail._

_"It'll be like some kind of episode from Japanese Schoolgirls Gone Wild, trust me," the older man smiled at him, blonde hair falling raggedly around his chin. Karl missed the tousled and sweaty mullet, but only out of nostalgia._

_"But the wildest part is that they'll be incredibly polite. When we speak, there will be no screaming. And they'll all hang on our every word as though it's law." Viggo's brow knitted and he stared out of the window of the airplane._

_At least it was a first class cabin. Karl looked around at the plush, quietly lit chairs -- the cabin was nearly empty._

_"And that's why I've got to wear the shirt," Viggo finished._

_Karl looked down at Viggo's handiwork._

_"Make me one too," he said impulsively._

_Viggo glanced sideways at him, an assessing look._

_"'Let now be the time when we wear our shirts together,'" Karl quoted softly, grinned._

_Viggo's mouth twisted._

_"Do you miss it?" Viggo asked._

_"Of course. Xena aside, it was one of the most intense filming experiences of my life."_

_Viggo leaned his head against the seat and turned toward him, the strange overhead light chisseling his face into unfamiliar plains._

_"I can't imagine how much I would have missed had I said no."_

_"I never considered saying no."_

_Viggo reached over to Karl's seat in an almost casual gesture, and took his hand. Gave it a squeeze. "That's the difference between us, and one that I honor in you. That desire, that lack of indecision."_

_Karl gulped, felt the bonds between them strengthen, the best kind of fellowship._

*

Karl sat on the steps of the golden hall and gazed down at the town below. Viggo and Orlando were engaged in swordplay -- Viggo's sword flashed in the sun, only to be met by Orlando's crossed daggers. Their laughter rang across the low huts and courtyards of beaten earth.

It was as though a brightness surrounded them, all nine of them. They laughed together, deep belly laughs that resonated against canyon walls (or wherever they were filming). They touched each other with an affection born of comeraderie. They cuddled as though they'd known each other for years, and their joy was infectious.

It almost made Karl want to laugh and cuddle too. Almost. But he'd come into the shoot late, and in a cast of hundreds he felt humble, little more than an extra with speaking lines.

Luckily he wasn't the only one.

John sat down next to him and squinted up at the sky. "I bet it'll rain by morning," John said.

"Good," Karl grinned. "That means Edoras will live at least a little longer."

John craned his head and stared at the immense set behind him, a whole hall erected and carved for (it seemed) his own benefit. "I've never had my own castle before," he reflected, and shook his head.

"Isn't it wild? It's so intricately carved, so lovingly put together..."

"Love is what built this whole project," John said softly, almost to himself.

Karl stared down at the elf and human locked in mock-combat, golden hair and brown swinging in the wind, and could only agree.

*

_They'd been in Japan for scant hours, and already they were in a photo shoot._

_It was the first of many publicity photo ops, and Karl couldn't imagine why they'd want him to be part of it._

_"You know it'll only be me and Viggo, right?" Karl said to the photographer._

_The small man ignored him, and Karl could swear his expression was more lascivious than professional. "Viggo, you stand behind Karl, sort of leaning over him."_

_Karl raised his eyebrows._

_"I'm just trying to convey a sense of fellowship!" the photographer protested._

_Viggo put his arm around Karl, grinned. The photographer snapped shot after shot. Karl could smell Viggo then, feel the warmth rising from Viggo's skin. He wanted to cuddle more than ever, lean against Viggo and feel his heartbeat, the ultimate sense of security._

_"How 'bout this?" Viggo said softly. He turned Karl toward him and leaned in. For a moment Karl though Viggo was going to kiss him, and his breath caught in his throat -- but then Viggo leaned against him, forehead to forehead._

_A large blue eye stared into his own._

_"Great!" the photographer enthused, snapping and snapping._

_Karl would have given anything to be alone with Viggo right then, entirely alone._

*

"Isn't he something?" Miranda's eyes shone as she rode next to Karl, blonde curls trailing behind her like an ancient banner. "He's weird and handsome and smart..."

Karl grunted, hoped Miranda would interpret it as manly disapproval.

But she only batted his armor-clad shoulder. "You watch him too," she said. "A blind man could noticed."

Karl blushed, was glad for his helmet.

"It's Liv I'm watching."

"Yes, I've noticed that you enjoy watching Liv's muscles flexing in the early morning as she practices her swordwork." Miranda's voice was light, mocking. Karl blushed harder. "Nothing to be ashamed of, Karl," she said. "I watch Viggo too."

And then he was there, in front of them, frowning absently as his horse shied.

"Eomer, Lady Eowyn," he said, and nodded. "How fares the journey?"

"Beer and footy after work tonight, so it's all good," said Karl blandly and smiled.

Viggo blanched and rode off.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"His devotion to his craft sometimes amuses me." And to be honest, it turned him on.

As if responding to his unspoken thought, Miranda murmured, "I wonder what he's like to fuck."

*

_Nothing was uncomfortable about it. In fact, it felt as comfortable as sharing food, or sharing a laugh._

_And now Karl was sharing skin._

_Viggo was peeling off clothes, tossing them somewhere around the room -- first his shirt, revealing a surprising number of tattoos, including the infamous elvish nine on his shoulder. Then his jeans, and then Viggo was basically naked but for his socks and a rather large ... smile._

_"You're leaving on your socks?!" Karl was already naked, and they were in the middle of his hotel room floor, not even on the bed._

_"It's cold in here," Viggo said mildly, and then got back on the floor next to Karl._

_Karl shivered when skin touched skin, rough and furry and smooth and taut, the way skin ought to be. And he felt almost feverish when Viggo's lips resumed exploring him, felt a huge rush like possession when he realized how muscular Viggo's ass felt against his palm._

_A million Japanese schoolgirls were outside of the hotel, all wanting what Karl was having -- and not even the sex part, although that was proving to be as perfect as anything else involving Viggo -- but the intimacy._

_And with Viggo, sex came with an intensity of sharing that almost erased any memory Karl might have had of watching the shy ranger for six months of shooting._

_"Karl, where are you?" Viggo stopped his wet and ticklish exploration and whispered in his ear._

_"Overwhelmed by you, almost. I was taking a small mental break."_

_"Stop thinking. Just feel me."_

_"Say that in Elvish."_

_Viggo whispered it into his ear, and Karl felt a blush rise from his stomach to the roots of his hair._

_Fellowship._

*

"You did very well." Viggo came up to him after his scene with Brad, John and Miranda. He'd just told Theoden about Saruman's betrayal. It had been tricky, hard to nail -- hard to act to a man that weighted by makeup, mumbling so that it was less interaction than reaction.

"Thank you, Viggo," Karl held out his arms, and the costume assistant started the slow process of detangling him from his breastplate.

"Miranda did too. It's going to be an effective scene."

"Beer," Karl said, sighing.

"Beer?"

"Sure! How about after we get back to the hotel, sometime around 10?"

Viggo smiled, but dropped his head, shook it.

"I think some of us are camping tonight, out on the plains."

"Ah well," Karl kept his voice light. "Some other time."

Viggo stared at him, and then nodded slowly, deliberately. "Don't worry," he said quietly. "When time comes, we'll get together."

*


End file.
